ABCs OF MENTAL TRAINING: T IS FOR TEAM BUILDING

BY AIMEE KIMBALL, PHD//MENTAL TRAINING CONSULTANT

You may think it’s odd to find an article about team building for swimming, a supposedly "individual" sport. However, many swimmers perform better when they feel a sense of team and believe that the individuals with whom they train are there to support them and wish them well. As such, team building is a very important topic for swimmers and their coaches to understand.

What’s a team?
At its core, a team is a group of individuals who work together to accomplish a shared goal. Sharing a goal creates a sense of mutual respect since teammates know everyone in the pool is working their hardest to do exactly the same thing. For some teams, the goal might be to win a national or state title, for others it may be to have everyone drop their time by 5% from the year before. As long as they work with each other and assist each other in accomplishing this goal, then they are a team.

Why a swim "team"?
Because the result of a team swimming competition is really determined by individual performances rather than an interaction between team members, many people overlook the importance the concept of “team” has in this setting. What also complicates matters is the idea that you are often competing against rather than with team members, as is customary in many other sports. So, other than needing a team winner in meets, what is the purpose of a sense of team in swimming?

First, teams are important because athletes do their best when they are comfortable, when they feel supported, and when they are confident. Having teammates who will continue to like you as a person regardless of your performance and who you know are rooting for you can help you to have this sense of comfort and confidence. Members of a "team" should cultivate these feelings in their teammates and feel this security in return.

Second, a team is important because it creates a culture when athletes both learn how to excel and are pushed by others to do their best every day. When team members have a shared identity (this is who we are, how we train, and what we are known for) swimmers buy into this culture, embrace it, and become it. Thus, the culture of team (assuming it's a good one) can help athletes to excel.

There are many other reasons why teams are important, but when the culture of the group fosters encouragement, a desire for teammates to succeed, and everyone feels responsible for and accountable to others, then a “team” truly exists.

How to create a positive team culture
There are many ways to foster a positive team culture. First, team building activities should be done regularly and can include pasta dinners, laser tag, or games at the end of practice.

Other than “fun” activities, the following suggestions can help to develop a foundation where a supportive and encouraging team atmosphere can thrive:

1) Captains/team leaders can have an open team discussion without coaches present about the goals for the team and expectations of team members.
    a) What are 3 characteristics every member of this team will have?
    b) How do we define success?
    c) How do we encourage each other?

2) Have a “compete but cooperate” motto. A good team member wants others to do their best, they just want to be better.
    a) A true team member pushes you and competes with you to see who can swim their best time. It's not about beating a specific individual, it's about every member of the team swimming their best.
    b) It can backfire when coaches constantly pit team members against each other in a negative way. Teammates can (and should) race, but constant comparisons and punishing the "loser" can have negative side effects:

• creates anxiety
• friends become enemies
• swimmers may hold back because they don't want to hurt their teammates' feelings

3) Remove classifications based on ability, age, year in school, etc. Often the "good" swimmers stick together and the rest become outsiders.
    a) Do what you can to make sure all team members interact regardless of their demographics

• Create families (group of about 4 swimmers from different grades/events/ability levels)
• Secret supports
• Goal buddies/big brother-big sister

There's an M and an E
You’ve all heard the saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team”, but there is an M and an E (me!). To be a team, every team member needs to look at themselves and ask what they contribute to the team and what they can do to make their teammates better. A team is created when individuals who train together know they are accountable to others and work to be a positive influence on those around them.

Make it great!

Athletes "Do you have Winning Parents?"

Reprinted from Competitive Advantage – Sports Psychology Services and Resources http://www.competitivedge.com/questionnaire_athletes2.htm

If your parents are too involved in your sport, they can make your life miserable, kill your enjoyment and absolutely ruin your athletic performance. Pushy parents can cause choking and other performance problems, and turn you into a sports dropout statistic. While many over-involved parents mean well and may tell you that they are doing all this for you, the fact of the matter is that they have lost perspective on your sport and are responding to their own needs and feelings. While you need your parents’ love and support to become successful, it will be almost impossible for you to reach your athletic dreams with parents who are over-involved. A parent’s major role on your “team”, (parent, athlete, coach) is to be unconditionally supportive. That is, to love and support you regardless of how you perform. Winning parents are their kids “best fans.” They are there for you no matter what the outcome. Take the following questionnaire to find out whether you have winning parents:

Answer each question with a 1, 2, 3, or 4: 1 = never true; 2 = occasionally true; 3 = mostly true; 4 = always true.

1. My parents make it easy for me to really enjoy my sport.

2. I love having my parents come to my competitions.

3. I don’t feel any pressure from my parents when I compete.

4. My parent(s) doesn’t tell me what I did wrong after I perform.

5. I never worry about disappointing my mom/dad.

6. My parent(s) spends time with me before I compete getting me ready.

7. My parent(s) pushes me to practice and train.

8. I fight with my parent(s) about my sport.

9. My parent(s) comes to all my practices.

10. When I work with my coach my parents make sure to tell me what I’m doing wrong.

11. My parents get upset with me when I lose or play badly.

12. When it comes to my sport, my parents just want me to be happy.

13. After my games my parents won’t leave me alone and insist on going over and over what happened.

14. I think about quitting my sport.

15. My parents criticize the coach and his/her decisions.

16. After I mess up I worry about what my parents are thinking.

17. My parents are my very best fans.

18. My parents let me take full responsibility for my sport.

19. My parent(s) compares me to my teammates and opponents.

20. I am embarrassed by what my parents say to me, the coaches and/or refs.

21. My parents think it’s their job to motivate me.

22. When I fail my parents are supportive and don’t criticize me.

23. As far as my sport goes, my parents need to get their own life.

24. Even though I don’t ask them to, my parent(s) keeps statistics/log book of my performances and outcomes.

25. I feel nervous when my parents watch me.

SCORING

Subtract the scores for questions 1 - 5, 12, 17, 18 & 22: (if you answered question #1 with an “always true”, the point total you’d subtract would be a 4.) Add the scores for the remaining questions: (If you answered mostly true for question #14, the point total you’d add would be a 3.)

INTERPRETATION

The lower the score, the more supportive are your parents. If you scored your parents between a:

55 - 46 = VERY non-supportive, destructive-to-your-sport (Parents who have a significant problem and are totally living out their own life through your sports.)

45 - 30 = Generally Non-supportive and pushy parents. Will not help you reach your athletic dreams because of their misguided efforts to “help.”

29 - 14 = Educable, well meaning, although somewhat inconsistent in their support. Sometimes can be helpful, but more often aren’t.

13 - 0 = VERY supportive, positive parents. Doing almost everything right for you. Have your sport in perspective. Be grateful to them!

1 - 20 = WINNING PARENTS, Clone them! The best. Olympic caliber parents!

Training With Imagination

Coach Paul Yetter of T2 Aquatics and former coach of swimming great Katie Hoff wrote this and I wanted to share this with all of you. He has a very active blog called “Developing the Champion Within”, check it out!

To train well takes imagination. Simply showing up to practice and “working hard” does not accomplish preparation for high level performances in meets. Why? The answer is simple: there are MANY people in the world of athletics who show up to practice and “work hard”; most of them feel as if they ‘deserve’ to go fast in meets or athletic competitions of any sort. This type of thinking will get you fast at first (as an age grouper or young athlete)….but there comes a point in time where the hard work you put in is just the same old hard work you’ve BEEN putting in for years. The body and mind adapt to this work. You get into a rhythm. You perform about the same, maybe a second or so slower or faster per 100 meters…but more or less the same performances happen because the same work happens.

Yet, in today’s world, for a myriad of reasons that all have to do with easy answers and instant gratification – we feel like we should access some superior results just because we’ve “sacrificed” and gone to practice….or “sacrificed” to wake up early before school….or “sacrificed” by getting our heart rate up during some repeat 100s in practice. This attitude is a disease that will attack us our entire lives, unless we stop it.

What is sacrifice? Is sacrifice REALLY giving up some sleep? Are we sacrificing when we choose to come home at 11pm instead of staying out until 2? Are we sacrificing when we expand our practice schedule from one season to another? Are we sacrificing when we sweat more at practice, and go faster than our best times in practice? These things are not what I consider sacrifice. These things are called TRAINING.

I believe 90% of teams out there have trouble with the concept of “How to Train”. I believe this because my standards are high, and I don’t feel like it’s a tremendous accomplishment to go to Nationals with three people just like I don’t feel like it’s a tremendous accomplishment to stay in the same job, without promotion, your entire life.

I was extremely lucky to have the opportunity to apprentice with Coach Bob Bowman in 2001-2002, during the time Michael Phelps was developing into the most accomplished swimmer the world has ever seen. Routinely during that season I would watch Michael swim under National Time Standards (cuts for Nationals) in practice. Once Michael started doing these things, others followed. During that year I watched no less than a half dozen OTHER SWIMMERS (not Michael) swim under the National Cuts in practice. Would those other swimmers have accomplished those practice swims without Michael having done it first? Probably, but not in WAVES like it happened that year. Soon, there were 10+ Olympic Trials qualifiers in the group, up from 1 two years prior to that time.

Since that time, I have been fortunate to coach athletes who have thought big enough to shoot for huge goals in practice. Some of these thoughts were implanted by me as the coach, and some of those thoughts came directly from the athletes each day in practice. At T2, we are beginning to think in this way, but we are not there yet. And if we are simply focused on being the best swimmer in the practice group, or the best High School swimmer in the county, then we are stunting our growth in a serious way. If you want to be the athlete who takes our team to the next level – than you have to take our team to the next level in practice. You can’t just swim a little bit ahead of the next guy and pat yourself on the back because of it.

You have to redefine “what is fast” in practice every day. If you go your best times in practice you will go to the meets with the unbelievable confidence that you’ve basically already made it happen, you just have to do what you’ve done before again in a meet. If you want to get a National cut, or a Junior National cut, or a Sectional cut you can either wait for the meets we have once per month to test yourself out, or you can simply go for it every day. Why not? The only reason why we don’t do this type of thing is because we lack the IMAGINATION to make it happen. Not many people consider actually going their cuts in practice. You have to think it’s possible (because it is and it happens ALL THE TIME) – and then you have to intend to make it happen. You are already taking the time to train, you might as well make your training unbelievable – ridiculously good – while you’re at it.

You really only have one choice if you want to be more successful than you currently are. Raising your level of expectation within yourself and for yourself -- and using your imagination for the ENTIRE practice, EVERY practice -- is going to be the key for you to take your swimming to the next level.

You are in charge of this. It won’t be me, your parents, or your teachers at school. It’s all in YOUR MIND and YOUR IMAGINATION.